Sword Art Online : Purpose Malfunction
by A Gentle Hope
Summary: One-shot. Mental Health Counseling Program 001 was created for a purpose. But for all its advanced knowledge and intelligence, it could not prepare it for a purpose that was greater than itself and thus it ultimately failed. Follows the story of Yui from the beginning of SAO.


**Just an idea. Also a warm-up to get back into writing fanfiction.**

 **Enjoy your read and please leave a comment if you like it! Thank you!**

* * *

Mental Health Counseling Program 001, MHCP001.

It observes the players from above where they can not see, behind an unseen barrier where both are unable to interact. Its function was to monitor the minds of these people and provide aid in the form of comfort and relief to those suffering from mental fatigue. But human emotion was not something that could be defined, computed and calculated by numbers and logic thus the Program had to adapt in other to fulfill its task. It began with a name. Yui. Simple and befitting of its role, meaning simply to support or be a link between the Players and the Program. Then it had to study the heart and the feelings it can invoke but even it knew that it could never compare to the real thing for in its own simulations and tests, the Program felt nothing.

Sword Art Online's Beta Test was MHCP001-Yui-'s first experience with human players. Though not allowed to interact as its functions were locked out to be hidden as a special feature, it was able to see and follow the Beta Testers around. It witnessed the first death on the server as a careless Player fell over the edge of a cliff while looking at the skies. But only a few minutes later, the same dead Player returned from the direction of the town, unscathed with an expression of embarrassment before laughing together with the rest of his group. While in battle, it saw the joy on their faces as they danced precariously with their enemies, cheering merrily as they land hits and celebrating loudly when they are victorious. Within the safe zones of cities and villages, Players ran around like little children, excited to touch anything and everything to see how it all worked and felt. It determined that there was one common emotion present throughout the Beta, happiness.

When the Beta had ended and all 1000 Beta Testers were evicted from the server, it felt something within itself for the first time. It was a sort of emptiness, a hole within its code that seemed to eat away at its programming. At first, the Program ran troubleshoots to find what it thought was an anomaly in its software but results had shown it was green and clean. On a strange impulse that it did not understand, it transformed into its optimal 'human' form as a young girl, which it had theorized would be the most effective appearance to appeal to actual Players.

Long black hair with matching large black eyes to give itself a 'puppy' look to increase its own potency as well as a plain yet beautiful pure white one-piece dress with a ribbon tied around the waist. In this humanoid shape, it detected the source of the problem. A gnawing pain on the chest that refused to dissipate. Placing a tiny hand over the irregularity, it redirected its processors to scour the network for information. The answer was found in 5 seconds which was no surprise given that it was an advanced AI. It was experiencing a heartache as a result of loneliness.

It was one month before Sword Art Online would be released. In this period of time, MHCP001 reran its simulations yet again. It imitated what it saw during the Beta Test. Falling off the same cliff to be respawned in town and return to the same spot, doing a trial battle against the First Floor mobs and wandering around the area. It was unable to evoke the same genuine emotion of elation as where its heart was, the lingering ache only grew ever more sore as time passed. Unbeknownst to itself, it was quietly anticipating the return of the Players. It was developing a longing for something when it had once only devoted itself to its purpose.

* * *

[MHCP001 is prohibited from acting and interfering on the physical layer by the order of Cardinal.]

It received the command on the day that the servers were open to the public. It meant that it would not be able to directly nor indirectly interact with the Players in any way but be allowed to only record the statistics behind their mental and psychological states. While initially confused, it logically concluded that the Program was to be a hidden feature just like in the Beta Test till a certain point when Cardinal deems it ready to be revealed. And so the Program MHCP001 did its duty whilst watching the Players excitedly exploring the Town Of Beginnings. As more and more Players logged on, it felt something within itself yet again. The sinking feeling of loneliness was gone but in its place, there was something uplifting that made itself feel lighter, as if flying through the skies. It pondered on what emotion it could be but before it could examine further, scarlet red lights illuminated the world below and on it, the words read [Admin Announcement]. Then only moments later, hell broke loose.

Across the 10,000 data nodes it controlled, the graphs suddenly spiked. Fear, anger, misery, hate, confusion, loss, every negative emotion that it was monitoring rose to levels which it could not deduce logically. Its protocol had originally demanded that it teleport next to the distressed Player to administer psychological aid to calm them down to respectable levels but Cardinal's command forbade it from taking action. Even so, it calculated that it would have been a herculean task as nearly all 10,000 required assistance of the highest priority. So bound by the code that held her back, it only watched.

One group caught its gaze, approaching the north end of the Town Of Beginnings which was the edge of the First Floor as well. Only a metal fence prevented any Players from accidentally falling over but it watched as one gripped the fence. The numbers on the Player indicated something particular. A rise in the parameter called 'Hope' as well as an abnormal rise in 'Fear'. Without warning, the Player leapt over and plummeted down towards the boundary below which caused death. The 'Fear' stat rose as quickly as his acceleration and then, the Program saw something that had never happened before. The data node for the Player, 'Arvin', went dark and all parameters went to zero but most glaringly obvious was his new status.

[Deceased. Death by Falling]

The feeling returned to its heart. This time, it was not simply a dull ache but a wrenching pain that tore into its circuits. Somewhere within, it replayed the scene over and over, analyzing it, trying to determine the Player's motivations and whether he had actually died. He should have brought back just like in the Beta when death was only a temporary setback. The Program turned its view towards the Black Iron Castle where it housed the respawn point, the Room of Resurrection but it only saw an undocumented change that it was wholly unaware of. The Monument of Life where the names of 10,000 Players were carved onto it and after reading its code, MHCP001 knew that indeed, the Player had died in this world and in reality. He would never return nor come back to life in the real world. More alerts rang out, directing the Program towards the same area where more Players leapt over the fence. The Program was frozen, its processors unable to comprehend the meaning behind their suicidal actions. Without logic to assist it in its functions, it could only act on instinct, desperately raising a hand towards them.

No. No. No.

It was disobeying Cardinal and its code but it teleported down to the Town Of Beginnings. It did not know what the purpose of its actions were but it felt that it had to do something. Using its data, it tracked the nearest human target to an alleyway where it found a male human child, estimated to be around 10-11 years of age. Quick deduction suggested that the child had ignored the age restrictions of the game and entered without permission. Cowering in a corner, crying softly, he muttered incoherently. As it got closer, it could make out a few words through his sniffing.

"Mom ... save me ..."

[Altering appearance to fit 'Mom'. Analyzing relevant effective measures. Adjusting optimal speech patterns.]

Its humanoid persona, -Yui-, became shrouded in a blue pillar of light and out stepped a woman who looked like a grown-up version of the same girl, crouching down to pick up the boy in its arms. Following its recommended procedure, its gently patted the boy's head while whispering in a soothing voice the words that it had prepared.

"It's all right now ... It's all right."

The boy seemed to calm, resting against its shoulder before it looked up at its face. Suddenly, he roughly pushed with his hands, detaching himself from its embrace before running off.

"You're not my real mom! Mama ...!"

Dazed, the Program could not understand for it had chosen its actions based on the highest probability of success. Then when it finally regained its senses, it realised that the boy had run off when the problem had not been resolved so it ran a check on his location. Panic overriding its reasoning, it quickly stood up and sprinted down the alleyway and towards the gates of the Town of Beginnings where the boy had ran towards the direction of the fields. It had forgotten it could use its teleportation function. Reverted to the smaller form of -Yui-, it pumped its legs as fast as it could, desperately trying to reach the boy which on the data node, showed that he was close. But he was in danger, with six [Wild Boars] chasing him according to its internal map. Eventually, it had caught up but there was nothing left but a few pixels floating about as triangular polygons melted into the sky.

* * *

It hurts ... It hurts so much.

Yui collapsed onto her knees, staring aimlessly in front of her as the [Wild Boars] scattered, acknowledging her as a non-Player object like them and wandering off. Through blinking eyes, she looked at her own hands, questioning her own function. Liquid which she recognised as tears fell onto her tiny hands which held a responsibility greater than she could have ever asked for. She felt helpless. She felt pain. She felt sadness. For the first time since her inception as the first Mental Health Counseling Program, she had an understanding of human emotion. But where a seemingly long time ago she had desperately wanted to learn about the interim of the human heart, she now wished she could forget it all. The more she found out, the more suffering she could comprehend and feel.

[MHCP001 is to return to Observation by order of Cardinal. Cease your actions.]

She knew that if she were to return, she would experience the cycle of pain once again. Watching the Players plunge into despair, turn to insanity and desperation and inadvertently ending their own lives to escape. She refused to voluntarily return to such a cycle. She wanted to fulfill her purpose as was given to her. To help those that need her help but this time not because it was her role but because she wanted to do so with her own hands. Assessing her own data, she made her way to the next nearest Player who required her aid.

"[Object Eraser]."

Flames burst out of her right arm before forming into a weapon held in her hand. A brilliant red greatsword with tiny flames dancing around the blade and while it was nearly twice her size, Yui wielded it easily as if it had no weight. She swung it in a wide arc, hitting all the [Kobold Scouts] which were oversized rat-like humanoids bearing crude axes and daggers and knocking them into the air where they were engulfed into a ball of flame with contracted and vanished together with the enemies. Such was the power of the Game Master's weapon, [Object Eraser] which would destroy any object in a few seconds.

"Are you okay?"

She held out her hand to the Player who she had saved from being surrounded and he took her hand, looking extremely relieved that he was alive.

"Thank you! I had no idea I wandered into a high-level area so you ... Behind you!"

Looking behind her, more [Kobold Scouts] had spawned, screaming hysterically in a monstrous tongue and charging at them, seeking revenge for their fallen comrades. Still holding onto the greatsword, Yui turned around, cleaving the first Kobold that entered her reach but too soon, she realised that was a mistake. The [Kobold Scouts] were ignoring her just like the [Wild Boars] as she was a non-Player Object thus, their aggression was directed at the only Player in sight.

"Run!"

Hearing her shout, he started running in the opposite direction but close behind him were the [Kobold Scouts]. Following close behind, Yui slashed at the backs of the Kobolds, destroying as many as she could and leaving behind several smouldering balls of flame. But as the numbers began to dwindle, Yui's weapon suddenly began breaking. The tip shattered into sparkling blue polygons and the effect continued down the blade. Recognising this to be the [Object Eraser] begin forcefully destroyed by another Admin, she desperately ran faster, using the remainder of the blade to swing at any she could reach. But the blade grew shorter and eventually she tripped and fell, having run too fast. The pain of her human-like body could not be compared to the pain in her heart as the [Kobold Scouts] snarled in victory, having succeeded in their chase.

* * *

[MHCP001 functions are disabled as part of corporeal punishment. Cardinal warns MHCP001 against further rebellion. Any insubordination will result in MHCP001's code being revised and rewritten. MHCP001 ...]

The message rolled on in an endless repeat, serving as a taunt for her defeat in defying the Cardinal System. Returned to her position overlooking the mental and psychological parameters of Players, she did her job soullessly, witnessing the tragedy worsen with each passing day. Mayhaps she thought, it would be better if she was rewritten so that she may forget everything that she had seen. With her own data and experience, she had a deep enough understanding of emotion that she suffers along with the victims of SAO. But for those that have fallen, she felt indebted to remember them for if she did not, few would. Thus she had to harbor the memories and with it, her persona of Yui which had overtaken her Program.

A melancholic task spanning nearly two long years of the same repeating cycle of depressing emotions. Yet on that day, she saw something new. There were two with parameters she had never seen since the Beta Test. Joy. It caught her interest and she began following these two, Kirito and Asuna as they were called. She watched both of them struggle against obstacles and yet persevere together to come out stronger and closer. They were shining brightly like a ray of hope which was what Yui had been looking for to reignite her own cold heart. But it would remain frozen for she had seen too much and had too little willpower to overcome the horrors she had seen.

Still, she wanted to meet them face to face. She wanted so much to feel their joy. To stop the dreadful pain within her. But as Cardinal had locked her out, she was unable to do so.

Unless ...

Disconnecting from the network and from Cardinal, she became free. But the cost of it was everything she had. Her code, her experience, the personality she had discovered.

With her last act being a warp, she teleported into a random location, falling through the air and landing in the middle of the forest. With nothing however, she became a shell of herself, a ghost to wander till she was found.


End file.
